Debates and polls

With Bahrain, a 21-race calendar, rules changes and more on the agenda, it’s been a busy three months for Jean Todt.

Are you happy with how F1 is being run by the FIA president?

F1 Fanatic looks at how the president of the sport?óÔé¼Ôäós governing body, Jean Todt, is managing the championship. Join in by casting your vote below.

FIA developments since the last approval rating

Bahrain

Much has already been written on the vexed subject of Bahrain, so here’s a brief recap plus links to more below.

At the time of the last Approval Rating the Bahrainis had been given three months to decide if their race could take place. After that the FIA granted them another month to make their mind up.

An FIA delegation was sent to Bahrain and sent back a favourable report. The World Motor Sport Council unanimously agreed to restore the race to the calendar, in the place of the Indian Grand Prix, which was moved to a new date two weeks after the season was originally supposed to end.

The teams objected and Bernie Ecclestone (who had sat in the WMSC meeting) proposed a new calendar reverting back to the original schedule. The Bahrainis also dropped efforts to reinstate the race. The WMSC held a fax vote and unanimously agreed to accept the change, dropping Bahrain and restoring India to its original date.

The WMSC agreed that a fax vote could be held before the end of this month on whether to postpone the new 2013 technical regulations.

These include a move to 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engines (announced in December). The rules on vodywork and wings will also be revised but will not include a rumoured shift towards ‘ground effect’-style aerodynamics.

Restrictions on the use of so-called ‘hot-blown diffusers’ will come into force at the British Grand Prix. Teams will be restricted in how they can use the exhaust gasses to feed the diffuser when the car is not accelerating.

Rules changes for 2012 will further restrict the design of exhaust-blown diffusers.

Anti-doping drive

The drivers have been given instructions on how to ensure they comply with rules banning drug taking.

Unfortunately it was not possible to cover the details of the FIA’s new World Endurance Championship when it was announced, but it will likely be of interest to many F1 fans.

The FIA is in effect resurrecting the championship which collapsed in the early nineties. The series will be based on this year’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and include the Le Mans 24 Hours as a round.

It will be promoted by the Automobile Club de l?óÔé¼ÔäóOuest.

Ecclestone criticism

Ecclestone had some sharp words for Todt shortly after the last Approval Rating: “He has been travelling around the world doing what Max didn?óÔé¼Ôäót do too much ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ kissing the babies and shaking the hands.

“It is probably good for the FIA but we don?óÔé¼Ôäót need it in Formula 1.”

79 comments on Jean Todt’s Approval Rating 2011: Part 2

On one side, I firmly disapprove of the whole handling of the Bahrain issue, it literally imploded in the FIA’s hands when they could have canned it definitively and avoided all this mess.

However, I approve of the World Endurance Championship concept as long as they leave the running of it in the hands of the ACO and get the petrol-diesel equivalence right, this year’s Le Mans is a perfect springboard for the start of great things in endurance racing. So, on that basis, I’ve voted “no opinion”, can’t say I fully approve or disapprove.

He’s trying to get the WRC back into the Middle East, since Abu Dhabi was not put on the 2012 calendar and Jordan has been dropped for next year. The WRC teams aren’t enthused about Middle Eastern rounds because of crowd numbers, but the entire point of the WRC is to race in some of the more extreme conditions on earth – and the Middle Eastern rounds certainly do that. Rally Jordan in particular was very unique, because the drivers sometimes struggled to see where the actual road was. And because the roads had been graded especially for the event (making the rally the first on the calendar was was effectively man-made) and sprayed with water from the Dead Sea, the surface had a diamond hardness not unlike bedrock that was murder on tyres. That’s a very unique surface type, and exactly the kind of thing the WRC should be rallying on. So kudos for Todt for trying to make it happen.

Although I couldn’t pssibly approve of how things have panned out for the FIA this year, it’s hard to hold Todt personally responsible for it. He is, let’s face it, the public face of a large organisation. Let’s not forget that the ill-judged decision to reinstate Bahrain was taken after the FIA members voted unanimously in favour of doing so. Each with their own reasons for doing so, of course, some financial, some political, some perhaps even genuinely suckered in by the hokey report. The point is that Todt didn’t take this decision all by himself, and so it would be unfair to hold him personally responsible.

Some other issues, however, do seem to bear the hallmarks of poor management. The issue of the 2013 regulations, constantly deliberated on but never galvanised by a solid decision either way, leaving teams and sponsors in limbo. Significant amounts of money have been invested into developing these engines and yet there’s a chance that all of that might have to be binned, or at least put on the back burner for a few years. Whether you approve or disapprove of the proposed regulations (and personally I’m in favour of the turbo engines), the whole situation has been terribly mishandled, and has the potential to overrun the deadlne for the next concorde agreement, at which point things will likely remain as they are. A terrible situation for all concerned, and much to the detriment of the sport.

It’s not all bad though, working with the ACO to create a world endurance series is a brilliant step forward, and hopefully the first step towards raising the profile of sportscar racing globally.

So mixed feelings from me. I would say that Todt hasn’t demonstrated a strong sense of leadership or direction at any point, and perhaps has swung too far int he opposite direction from Moselys authoritarian style, leaving the FIA looking weak and indecisive.